Romney Touts Cash Advantage Over Obama

Candidate tells Texas donors he’s spending money more wisely.

HOUSTON – Mitt Romney told a group of Texas donors on Tuesday that his campaign -- which holds a huge cash advantage over President Obama’s -- is spending its money more wisely.

Federal Election Commission reports filed on Monday showed Obama’s total at roughly $60 million less than the $186 million haul the Romney campaign announced earlier in August, raised with the assistance of the Republican National Committee.

“You’ve perhaps noticed in the paper, we’re a little wiser in our spending of dollars than the other side, apparently,” Romney told a group of 125 donors who each paid $50,000 to attend the finance event at the Houstonian Hotel, which President George H.W. Bush used as his official residence during his presidency. “I’m not managing their campaign for them, but we’re going to spend our money wisely, we’re going to spend it to win.”

Obama’s campaign has outspent Romney over the summer months through a television ad campaign designed to define the presumptive Republican nominee, as well as through large investments in the ground operations in swing states. Romney has been more limited in what he has been able to spend, with much of the money raised for his general-election campaign not available until after next week’s GOP convention in Tampa.

Aides said that Romney was expected to raise between $6 million and $7 million on Tuesday through the Houston event and other events.

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Speaking in oil-rich Texas to a group that included oilman and Romney supporter Harold Hamm, Romney told the group that he plans to describe his energy plan in more detail at a speech he will give in New Mexico later this week.

“Your input is something I wanted to retain before we actually cross the T’s and dot the I’s on those policies,” Romney said. “… I have a different approach I think generally to the role of government as it relates energy, as well as other aspects of our economy, and it flows from a growing perspective I have throughout my life and frankly, during this campaign about the power of individuals as opposed to government.”

Romney frequently discusses the need for an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy, including more offshore drilling, so-called hydrofracking, and coal production. He recently came under fire in Iowa, however, after his spokesman said the GOP presidential candidate would not support extending the production-tax credit for wind energy, an industry that employs nearly 7,000 in the Hawkeye State.